What Algorithms Want: Imagination in the Age of Computing

We depend on - we believe in - algorithms to help us get a ride, choose which book to buy, execute a mathematical proof. It's as if we think of code as a magic spell, an incantation to reveal what we need to know and even what we want. Humans have always believed that certain invocations - the marriage vow, the shaman's curse - do not merely describe the world but make it.

Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future

Now comes this remarkable anthology uniting 20 of today's leading thinkers, writers, and visionaries - among them Cory Doctorow, Gregory Benford, Elizabeth Bear, Bruce Sterling, and Neal Stephenson - to contribute works of "techno-optimism" that challenge us to dream and do Big Stuff. Engaging, mind-bending, provocative, and imaginative,
Hieroglyph offers a forward-thinking approach to the intersection of art and technology that has the power to change our world.